Carmen Macri
Let’s talk Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Words by Carmen Macri
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was one of the lucky ones — essentially hitting it big right out the gate, commercially, that is. They spent their early days performing at small local venues across Northeast Florida, but everything changed with the release of their debut album, “Don’t You Fake It.” The album shot up the charts, went certified gold and put them on the map with hit singles like “Face Down,” “False Pretense” and “Your Guardian Angel.” I think I can speak for the masses when I say “Face Down” was on a constant repeat — whether it was blasting from local radio stations or crammed into our pocket MP3 players. Even now, it takes about two seconds of that iconic drumbeat to unlock the sleeper agent in me.
This Jacksonville emo rock band, whose older stuff now falls under the Gen-Z genre divorced dad rock, came to fruition back in 2001 when childhood friends Ronnie Winter and Duke Kitchens started a band while attending an AP music theory class. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus officially came together in 2003 after recruiting members from other local bands. As for their name? It was the result of a democratic process — random words were tossed on a wall, and the band voted for their favorite combination.
During this time, the band continued to build a strong local following but struggled to gain recognition outside of Florida. That didn’t slow them down, though — why would it? They knew what they had to offer. Undeterred, the core duo — vocalist Ronnie Winter and guitarist Duke Kitchens — began rebuilding The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. They focused on blending emo-pop, screamo and alternative rock. Soon after, guitarist/vocalist Elias Reidy and bassist Joey Westwood, who had previously played together in the metal band In Fate’s Hands, joined, along with drummer Jon Wilkes, completing the new lineup.
Their dedication and fiercely loyal fanbase eventually caught the attention of Jason Flom from Virgin Records in 2005. This led to the release of their debut album, “Don’t You Fake It,” in July 2006 which skyrocketed them into stardom. By November, the album had sold over 500,000 copies and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Needless to say, Jacksonville couldn’t gatekeep The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus anymore. They were now known worldwide.
Like many bands, especially those with over 20 years of performing under their belt, their lineup has evolved over time. The current line-up consists of Winter (lead vocals, keyboards and acoustic guitar), Joey Westwood (bass), Josh Burke (lead guitar and backing vocals), Randy Winter (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Espy (drums) and Nadeem Salam (keyboards)
Unlike many bands, the members of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus have navigated their careers with surprisingly little drama — no breaks and no hiatuses. It’s been smooth sailing, and they’re still going strong — touring the world and dropping new music for their fans. Their bond with listeners has always been tight, almost personal, and that connection continues to define their journey — even as the band has transitioned into a more Christian-emo rock direction (more spiritual than biblical).
I had the awesome chance to chat with frontman Ronnie Winter about the band and their journey out of Jacksonville — OK, technically Middleburg, but close enough. Here’s how it went down.
Winter: You’re not allowed to ask me about the current political climate.
Carmen: Ha ha ha. I wouldn’t dream of it.
Winter: Thank God.
Carmen: Alrighty, for starters, I do just wanna say that Face Down was the first song I ever remembered learning the lyrics to.
Winter: What, no way! What an impact. This is such a fun topic for me. I’m kind of gabby this morning.
Carmen: Please don’t stop. I love this. OK, so how did growing up in Middleburg shape your sound, and do you think the Florida music scene still influences your approach to songwriting?
Winter: What a fantastic question. Let’s talk about Tom Petty, right? He’s from Gainesville and I’m from Middleburg, which is essentially the same woods, like the same trees that are in Gainesville are connecting [to Middleburg]. So really, I’m from where Tom Petty’s from when you think about it.
Carmen: Ha ha ha. OK.
Winter: So, I listened to a lot of that, a lot of Skynyrd, a lot of Molly Hatchet and just all that awesome Jacksonville Southern rock. I know when I was growing up, when I was 11 or 12 years old in Middleburg, I was so proud of our Southern rock bands and you would see them all the time in public. My brother still runs into them today, all the time, but you would see the members from these bands and you would go up and talk to them and they’re so cool. They were older, but who gives a crap it was still amazing. Because it’s a small, undeveloped town, these guys are like mega stars, you know. They all have crazy accomplishments, awesome music and everybody knows their songs. I’ll never forget when Limp Bizkit got a record deal because we’ve seen them a couple times locally, and I can remember, I think it’s called the milk bar —that was the sickest club ever. If you got the milk bar you were gonna make it, man. You were on your way up in Jax, and then after that was Free Bird Live, that was kind of the next step after Milk Bar. But we saw Limp Bizkit there and we were just like whoa, like they’re so good, you know, like the drummer, the bassist, everybody in the band was amazing. Then we started playing the scene locally, and then I saw Yellow Card which was a completely different band with a different lead singer, but I really liked them. But like I said, Limp Bizkit, when they got signed, I remember talking to Damien from Burn Season. We were both local unsigned bands at the time, but we knew each other and we played shows together and also competed against one another on show nights. We became friends and when he got signed to Elektra, we were ‘like no way Bobby and Dan got signed to a record deal —these are our friends that we know. So we just jumped hard-core into it because you know Limp Bizkit got a deal, Yellow Card got a deal, Burn Season got a deal. Sounds like somebody from Middleburg needs to step up and represent. You know what I mean? So we were like, the water is warm over here for some reason, let’s just give it a shot. So if it wasn’t for all of those bands making it, I don’t think we would’ve chosen that. We probably would’ve fallen into some other college type career, so I’m just grateful we grew up in a scene where young bands were making it, getting record deals, getting out there and getting their music heard. We grew up in a town where that was happening, you know what I mean? So we just went for it.
Carmen: It’s crazy how many bands, especially in that time, the late 90s, early 2000s. It was like you said, everyone, all these bands were just getting signed one after another. It’s crazy to think about cause it’s not really like that anymore.
Winter: Yeah. Keep in mind, I’m micro focusing on Jax
Carmen: If you could go back and give your 2006 self one piece of advice, before Don’t You Fake It dropped, what would it be?
Winter: Wow, what a cool question. I don’t regret anything. I think life is like a river, and we’re in little boats that just kind of float down. A lot of people think that they want to take the power, you know, wanna be like ‘oh, wow, I remember when I made this decision. It changed my whole life.’ The problem with thinking like that, is it works great when the decision that you made is awesome, but it’s terrible when the decision you made is life-changing. I have learned to look at life like I am just in a little boat floating down the river, so in that case, I wouldn’t change anything. I wouldn’t tell myself anything. If I were to somehow send a dove with a note or something like that, dropped in my hand, it would probably just say ‘true happiness doesn’t come in a bottle’ or something like that. Because no one really warned us about drinking. We were so young when we went out there. We just drank too much. Other than that, it’s been a hell of a ride, man. It would probably be the only thing, what a small detail, right?
Carmen: I love that, life is like a river and you’re just floating in a boat.
Winter: That’s it, man, you don’t gotta stress, you gotta trust.
Carmen: Your sound has evolved over the years, what is one risk you’ve taken musically that felt the most rewarding, even if it didn’t land the way you expected?
Winter: Wow, another awesome question. You have done your homework. You know what is kind of annoying to me? That emo country is popular now. Ronnie Radke just put out a song with Jelly Roll, right? It’s emo country. Well, you know, I did emo country in 2009 first. I was the first. We did an album called Lonely Road, and everybody said it was too country and too southern rock, so they didn’t like it. Maybe now in 2025, those haters are able to absorb the emo country I gave them that they weren’t ready for. It wasn’t scene enough for them, but now emo has evolved, so they’re ready to try new versions of it. I think if we released Lonely Road today, it would go huge.
Carmen: You were just ahead of your time
Winter: It’s a full on country song with a gospel choir and acoustic guitar in the beginning. I mean it’s emo-country, man, but they weren’t ready. They weren’t ready for it.
Carmen: They weren’t. Well, you know what? Just re-release it. Just post it again. Say ‘hey guys, remember this thing I did? Check it out now.’
Winter: Yeah. Did somebody say emo-country? Let me dust this one off.
Carmen: That’s incredible, you really should. Alright, this is our last question. If you could add any random instrument to one of your songs, no matter how bizarre, what would it be and how would you make it work?
Winter: Any instrument that’s cool and funny. I’m gonna say this Japanese —and if I’m wrong, please don’t crucify me— but it’s this kind of plastic flute looking thing with a face on the bottom. Have you seen that?
Carmen: Nope
Winter: Oh my gosh, well congratulations to you cause you’re about to have a wonderful day when you find this on reels. It’s like a saxophone, but the bottom of it is like a happy face and you kinda, I don’t even know how to play it, I guess you kind of sing into it and then it morphs your voice into this like violinesque sound. Yeah, believe it or not, I somehow did a decent job of describing that. (He is referring to a Japanese Gudetama. And he did a fantastic job at describing it)
Carmen: You know, I’m picturing it in my head. Crystal Clear
Winter: I am going to send you a link to enjoy.
Carmen: Please do. Is there anything else you wanted to add at all?
Winter: We’re proud to be from Jacksonville. We really are. A lot of people don’t know this part of our story, but before we were signed and we were just running around playing any show we could, we met so many friends that are still friends today. Local musicians, a lot of different people have played with my crew over the years, and they all have lived in Jacksonville. All my family still lives in Jacksonville. We’re excited for Rockville, can’t wait for Rockville. Did you talk to Danny Wimmer?
Carmen: No
Winter: He’s from Jacksonville and he kinda had a hand in like pretty much everything we’re talking about. He’s a very influential guy, so I just wanted to say thanks to Danny and all the people that I met along the way, I still love you guys. All you guys
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